Pizza Deliveryman Shoots and Kills Would-Be Robber

A pizza deliveryman carrying a handgun in his waistband on Sunday shot and killed a would-be robber who had stabbed him in the chest after he refused to hand over any money, police said.

Neither the robber, who died at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, nor the deliveryman, who was treated for his injuries and then questioned by detectives, was identified by police.

At about 4 p.m., the 31-year-old Domino’s Pizza employee had just taken three pizzas, which reportedly cost about $36, to a family in a gated apartment complex on Vermont Avenue in South-Central Los Angeles, witnesses said. The deliveryman was returning to his Isuzu Trooper when the would-be robber approached and demanded money, said LAPD spokesman Mike Partain. The man replied: “I don’t have any money,” Partain said.

The robber drew a “large” knife and stabbed the Domino’s employee in the upper left chest, police said. The two struggled, and the deliveryman at some point pulled the gun from his waistband and shot the other man, they said.

The deliveryman was treated for the stab wound and cuts to his hands, and taken to the LAPD’s 77th Division station for questioning, Partain said.

“The guy’s pretty lucky he’s in here talking to us,” said LAPD Det. Chuck Merritt.

Family members who ordered the pizza said they heard three or four shots, then looked out the window and saw the Domino’s employee standing about 10 feet from a prone man.

“[The deliveryman] was looking at the gun and the man,” said a 17-year-old who would not give his name. Then, the witness said, the deliveryman climbed into his vehicle, parked at the curb, and waited for police.

Police on Sunday night confirmed that the deliveryman has a concealed-weapon permit. Even so, Domino’s company policy prohibits employees from carrying weapons, and calls for them to hand over money when confronted by robbers.

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Residents of the apartment building said theirs is a high-crime area. The community center next door was held up Friday, they said, and two months ago, a woman was robbed and beaten at a bus stop nearby.

At the Domino’s outlet where the deliveryman worked, employees refused to comment. A sign in the window advertised that new drivers were being hired, starting at $6 an hour.